Loose Ends
by kitotterkat
Summary: [Post HBP] Harry's leaving to fight Voldemort, but first he has to tie up his loose ends with Ginny. But what he thought would be an easy conversation ends up changing their relationship forever.


The Walk Maybe they didn't plan it, but it happened just the same. Bittersweet moments between Harry and Ginny before his final departure. 

A/N- Hope you enjoy my latest one- shot!

Disclaimer- I own neither the Harry Potter franchise, nor the song "The Walk" by Imogen Heap. (Download the song, and read the books . . I'm sure you do . . .but read them again . . . )

Afternoon, 12:20- Day of the Wedding

Harry's Point of View 

_**Inside out, upside-down twisting beside myself,**_

_**Stop that now, cause you and I were never meant to be**_

_**I think you better leave; it's not safe in here,**_

_**I feel a weakness coming on.**_

Except . . . . we _were _meant to be, and we all knew it. Hermione knew it, Mrs. Weasley knew it, heck, all the Weasleys knew it . . . . including Ron, Ron who still can't even realize his feelings to Hermione after five years.

Today's the last day. After today, we're leaving- maybe never to return. Ron's going to finally confess his feelings to Hermione- I just know it. And Hermione will gladly reciprocate- because she's just as crazy about him as he is about her. We're staying for the wedding, and that's it. It's practically my last time . . . . a time to tie up all loose ends.

"Harry, you better end this with Ginny. I know you think you ended it at the funeral, but you didn't, because the feelings are still there, and that's even worse. That makes you a coward if you don't do anything about your feelings."

Look who's talking, Hermione. That's what I really wanted to say. Instead I settled for, "Fine. Have you seen Ron by the way?"

To which she blushingly replied "Ummm, Ron, why Ron, why are you asking about Ron, I mean, it's just Ron, it's not a big deal, why do you need Ron, why are you overanalyzing me, GOD HARRY JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" (Cue, storming upstairs)

And apparently _I'm _the one with the problem.

Loose ends. They'll all be tied up by the end of the night. Crazy person or not, Hermione's right. If the feelings are still there, it's not very ended at all.

_**Alright then (Alright then) I can keep your number for a rainy day,**_

_**That's when its set, no mistakes no misbehaving,**_

_**I was doing so well, can we just be friends,**_

_**I feel a weakness coming on.**_

We'll still be friends, of course. I mean, Ginny was a great friend long before she was a great girlfriend . . . I mean, my girlfriend . . . . Was, being the operative word.

Night, 5:45- Wedding Reception

I'm sitting here, and I'm wondering, do I even have the right to still appreciate Ginny as a person? Do I really have a right to be her friend still, after I just broke up with her out of the blue?

I couldn't give her what she wanted. I couldn't protect her anymore.

She looks beautiful tonight- she's wearing this pretty blue dress and laughing with one of her cousins.

Hermione and Ron (the real problem kids) are dancing right behind them. They're making out.

Go figure.

I mean, wow, I'm just shocked. Wow, that was out of the blue.

(Note my sarcasm)

It's about time.

"Hey, Harry." Bill takes a seat right by me. Probably just tired of dancing and talking French to a bunch of relatives. The things a guy does for love, right?

"Hey, Bill." I respond. "Congratulations."

"Thanks, Harry." He gazes out at the crowd for a few seconds, before 'oh so casually' dropping the, "Ginny looks really adorable tonight." Card.

"Yeah, she does- very pretty. She looks really happy with her cousin- are they very close?"

Bill looks straight at me. "That's not her cousin- that's her boyfriend."

I honestly thought it was a joke, at first. But it wasn't.

Loose ends. They're severing even more now.

And the worst part of it is that they're all tied up for the other party.

Night, 6:15- Wedding Reception

I had to do the worst of worse things- I had to break Ron and Hermione up. It was pretty bad. For one thing, apparently Lavendar Brown wasn't Ron's problem, because Ron and Hermione are even more PDA friendly than Lavendar and Ron, which, trust me, is saying a lot.

"Ginny doesn't have a boyfriend." Ron said distractedly.

Hermione blushes. "Actually . . . "

For once, I wish Hermione didn't know everything.

"His name is Chad Lockhart- he's Gilderoy Lockhart's son. Ginny met him when Charlie was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago- he was visiting his dad."

I mean, I knew it was bad when Charlie got attacked by the Death Eaters- and it really was a relief that he's okay, because it was touch and go there for awhile,- but this means loose ends on a whole new level.

"What a priss." Ron muttered after that. It's Ron's job to hate Ginny's boyfriend- provided it's not me, but I had a sickening feeling in my stomach that if Chad was _anything _like Lockhart, well, . . . . I just don't have a prayer.

Ginny's Point of View 

_**It's not meant to be like this, not what I planned at all,**_

_**I don't want to feel like this, Yeah,**_

_**No it's not meant to be like this, not what I planned at all,**_

_**I don't want to feel like this, so that makes it all your fault.**_

Lately, it seems like my life is just one big mistake. I mean, I've just been making mistakes right and left, and so has everyone else. Charlie made the mistake of going for a walk- and he ended up in the hospital for a week. I made the mistake of sneaking off the hospital wing to visit him, and I met this charming, cute guy. So I figure, you know, he's probably a pretty great, decent, anti- Harry kind of guy. I mean, he looked pretty carefree, and he wasn't on the cover of Witch Weekly, so I was like, sounds good. So I made the mistake of accepting his offer to go out on a date. And then I made the mistake of, after I realized he was a self- absorbed priss, asking him to the wedding, just because Harry would be there. And then I made the mistake of telling Bill I was dating him, but he had to know or else he wouldn't let me take him, but I should have made something up or . . . something, because now he made the mistake of telling Harry, who made the original mistake of breaking up with me.

Actually, his parents made the original mistake of conceiving him. Because really, that's when my life went downhill.

And I wasn't even in existence. It's like I was destined to have a really bad life even before I was born. And that's fate right there, and you just can't fight fate.

Trust me, we've all been trying to for the last couple of years. I mean, sometimes fate has your back, hooks you up with your perfect man, or a cold on a test day, but sometimes, like in my case, it really wants to screw you over, so it hooks you up with the cutest guy on the planet (that also happens to be perfect) but also happens to be the bane of this power- crazy psycho killer's existence.

It would be so much easier if Harry and I were just friends. _JUST FRIENDS. _

I mean, I know that will never, never, never, happen, but really, we would have such a good life if we were just friends. I might be able to enjoy the fact that Chad's kissing me right now, instead of thinking about fate and how it screws you over. I might still be going out with Dean, who was a perfectly okay guy, except for the fact that he might be too chivalrous.

You know, that's my problem.

Now that I've met perfection in the form of The Boy Who Lived, that's all I can compare anyone else to.

I mean, really.

That's my problem, right there.

Night, 7:30- Wedding Reception

Chad has officially left the building.

(Thank god)

I'm not thanking god externally, though. Externally, I'm basically murdering my brother, Ronald Weasley. He flipped out when he figured out that I was going out with some guy that he had never met before, and who happened to be three years older than me.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY SENSE AT ALL?"

More than you, brother of mine- more than you.

So Ron flips out, and starts yelling at me and Chad's sitting right there.

And then Ron starts yelling at Chad, and then he gets all freaked out. 

These were exactly his parting words: "Man, Ginny, dude, I really like you and all, but you've got a few too many issues for me. I think you're hot and all, but I can't deal with this right now."

He's clearly short a couple brain cells.

Part of me wants to thank Ron- in a way, he did what I've been dreading for the whole night, because it was coming.

"Hey, Ginny." Harry comes and sits by me. No offense to fate, but he's the last person that should be talking to me right now.

"Sorry about Ron and . . . um, well, your boyfriend."

"Ex Boyfriend, Harry. Do you actually think he'd stick around after that?"

"Well, I would if I really liked the girl."

See what I mean? He's really too perfect. I'm not gonna lie- I'd leave. Ron could really freak a guy out if not exposed in proper doses- very little at a time.

"Well, he wouldn't. It's fine- I mean, he's Lockhart's son- he's a little . . . . well, he was too much like him."

"Still, that probably wasn't the opportune way to break up."

I mean, really . . . empathetic too?

"Well, no, it wasn't . . . I'd really like to have pushed him into the lake." I joke.

"So why'd you go out with him?" Harry asks.

He's way too blunt.

"Seemed like a good way to tie up some loose ends." I said offhandedly.

"Do you want to dance?"

Really, he's way too out of the blue. Wait! That's a fault. Thank god- he's not perfect.

Okay, Harry, I'll dance with you . . . I'll do your little dance . . . . Two can tango.

_**Inside out, upside-down twisting beside myself,**_

_**Stop that now; you're as close as it gets without touching me,**_

_**Oh now don't make it harder than it already is,**_

_**I feel a weakness coming on.**_

Harry's Point of View 

I know I'm not the most perceptive person on the planet- I reserve that position for Hermione. But man, I had no idea I was this much of an idiot.

About two minutes ago, I asked Ginny to dance with me.

I guess I forgot that that means touching my ex girlfriend, even before the loose ends are tied up. And somehow, I don't think we're going to tie up any loose ends by being right next to each other- me, feeling the soft skin and curves of her body and realizing how thin her dress material really is.

Her, well, I don't know.

But this is definitely not the way to tie up the loose ends. In fact, if this lasts much longer, I won't have enough string to tie up anything. It's severing, and it's severing too fast.

_**It's not meant to be like this, not what I planned at all,**_

_**I don't want to feel like this, Yeah,**_

_**No it's not meant to be like this, not what I planned at all,**_

_**I don't want to feel like this, so that makes it all your fault.**_

"Ginny . . .I'm sorry, I can't do this."

So I left.

Ginny's Point of View

Harry flaw number two . . . he can't even dance without freaking out. We were dancing for about three seconds, or three minutes, I guess I wasn't exactly looking at my watch, but honestly, he couldn't even dance.

And he was the one who asked me in the first place!

And now, I just feel . . . abandoned.

What did I do?

Night, 8:15- Wedding Reception

Harry might be a coward. He might not follow through. And he might be able to consciously leave tomorrow, write me one- line letters, and be totally okay with the fact that he might have left me standing on a dance floor, confused and hurt, and that was the last he ever saw of me- possibly.

I'm _not _okay with that.

Nobody, nobody, _nobody, _ditches Ginny Weasley on a dance floor and gets away with it.

I knew right where to find him. He's been going there the whole time he's been here- whenever there are too many people, too much happiness, or too much of anything, he goes to this maple on the side of our property and just sits there.

"Why'd you do it, Harry?" I ask him. He was right where I anticipated him to be. I didn't say hi, I didn't even sit down. I just asked.

"Because I can't do anything else."

_**Big trouble loosing control,**_

_**Primary resistance at a critical load,**_

_**On the double gotta get a hold,**_

_**Point of no return a second to go,**_

Of all the excuses! I mean, what does that even mean?

"What does that even MEAN?"

So sue me. I say what's on my mind.

"It means, Ginny, that I can't be there for you and tie up all these loose ends. I meant for this night to be a good time, but really, just . . . to tie up the loose ends. To make sure we were still friends, and leave tomorrow hugging you and not feeling anything. I can't leave tomorrow with remembering the fact that you were so gorgeous tonight, and that you were so unbearably sexy under your dress that I couldn't even handle it. Ginny, I can't even handle being within five feet of you . . .because all I want to do is give in."

"Then give in." I said. "Or, I'll do it for you."

And then I kissed him.

You know why? Because nobody says those beautiful things, and then leaves. Nobody backs me into a corner without me backing them right back.

Except, technically, it was a tree that I backed him into.

He didn't push away. He gave in- and within five seconds, he was on top of me, pushing me against the tree and forgetting about all the loose ends that I had a feeling would never get tied up.

I'm not going to lie. It was hot- probably hotter than hot. Like, nuclear.

The times at the lakes were hot- those times when Harry and I took hours off of studying to go make out down by the lake. Ron and Hermione never found us, and we'd just sit there kissing for hours.

No, this was hot. This was like, a wedding night kiss right before the sex, or a crazy hookup on firewhiskey, or . . . .well, it wasn't anything I had ever ventured into before.

It was new to both of us, but it was hot, and it was good, and it felt right. I mean, it felt wrong, because we were both supposed to be letting go of each other on every level, and now we were taking it to a whole new level- forbidden, and dangerously passionate, love.

_**No response on any level, red alert this vessels under siege,**_

_**To a lower lever, systems failed, they've got control,**_

_**There's no way out, we are surrounded,**_

_**Give in, Give in…..**_

But it wasn't one of those hookups that was a mistake. I knew exactly what I was doing, and Harry did too. He knew what he was doing when he pulled off my shirt, and I knew exactly what I was getting myself into when I pulled off his pants.

Forbidden stuff. That's what we were doing. While Fleur and Bill were sharing their first dance as a married couple, and cutting the cake, and while Ron and Hermione were sharing one of their first ten kisses, Harry and I were up in my room committing things that I never imagined ever committing so soon.

Harry's Point of View 

The worst part was that I knew what I was doing. I knew exactly what I was getting into, and we did it anyway.

We might as well have burned the loose ends, because there was no way that we could ever be just friends after that.

It was the best moment of my life. It was paralyzing, exhilarating, and completely perfect. It wasn't seedy- it was romantic. I mean, I told her I loved her, because I did. And she said it right back- and I knew she did.

And then we . . . . well, we proved it.

When I learned about sex and virginity, I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that I didn't plan to lose it the night before I leave (possibly forever) to fight my sworn enemy.

But that's exactly what happened.

_**Freeze, awake here forever, I feel a weakness coming on.**_

You can't plan the perfect moment, I know that now. The perfect moment just happens. The problem is that it's a moment. And then the moment has passed. And no matter how perfect, how surreal, how much of a dream the moment was, there's still responsibility, there's still survival.

And that's where reality comes in.

That's where I come in.

I was basically supposed to help the wizarding world survive, and I was basically the last hope.

It's not easy to do what you have to do. In fact, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do, and it always will be.

_**It's not meant to be like this, not what I planned at all,**_

_**I don't want to feel like this, Yeah,**_

_**No it's not meant to be like this, it's just what I don't need,**_

_**Why make me feel like this, it's definitely all your fault.**_

I had to get out of that bed. I had to put on my clothes, go downstairs, pretend that I had been there the whole time, claim Ginny was feeling really sick and she was upstairs sleeping, and then I had to go to take a shower, and go to sleep.

The walk. The hardest thing I ever had to do- leave that house.

She didn't even come down to say goodbye.

She told Ron that she already said goodbye.

She told Hermione that she'd miss her.

She told me that she loved me.

Destiny isn't easy and it isn't fun. I cried for three months after that moment- the most perfect moments of my life. But I never truly walked out on Ginny. She was always there for me, and she always wrote, and I always wrote her.

Maybe I felt like it was my job, maybe I felt like that was what I should do after that one night.

But I know why I did it.

Because it was right.

Because I loved her.

Because I was the father of Lilly.

Later in Life . . . .

Ginny's Point of View 

It's true . . . what they say. One night changes everything. It takes one moment- one second of weakness, and suddenly, in a blinding light, as fast as it takes for Harry Potter to say, "I love you," your life has changed.

I named her Lilly . . .after Harry's mother. Her name was Lilly Potter, and she was mine, and she was Harry's.

One night changes everything- but not always for the worst.

Harry and I were married two months after the war ended, and one month after I woke up from my two- week coma.

Sometimes life hands you curveballs and challenges, but fate's always got your back.

That night was never a mistake. It gave me everything I love- my daughter, my husband, and most of all, my life.

Harry's Point of View

So surreal, so magical . . .the moments of your life, the best moments, the ones that really matter . . .those are the ones that stay with you, and those are the ones that you can't all the way remember.

When Ginny told me she was pregnant.

When Ron and Hermione got married.

When Ginny and I got engaged.

When we had Lilly.

When Ron and Hermione had Sarah.

When I realized Voldemort was gone forever.

When I realized everyone survived the war.

It really was all Ginny's fault that we got back together. I probably would have just left. Ginny taught me all about love, and never giving up on that love, most importantly.

My life hasn't always been easy, and there have been some really terrible moments so far.

But you always have your friends, and I always have Ginny.

And the best part?

I've only had ten years of Ginny . . . . and only two years of Lilly.

I've got a lot left, and I don't plan to miss any of it.

Ginny's Point of View 

Even Later . .

The best walk of my life- the day I walked down the aisle to marry the man I've wanted to marry since I was ten.

Step by step, I walked to my destiny . . . . and the rest of my life.

I wanted to run- I couldn't wait. I felt like I've been waiting for four years, and even longer maybe.

Sometimes life is sad.

Sometimes life is terrible.  
Sometimes life feels more like hell.

But there's hope . . . moments . . . . smiles.

Usually, life is beautiful.  
Life is full of love.

Life is worth living- worth waking up for.

Life is full of walks . . .full of steps you take towards your future- no matter where it's leading you.

But if there's any justice in the world, it will bring you back to happiness.

Try it . . . it's never failed yet.

Loose ends . . .they're so overrated

A/N: Well, there we go! Story number . . . five? Or four? Yeah, don't know . . .but hope you enjoyed "The Walk!" I meant this to be a lot sadder, but I guess I couldn't keep Harry and Ginny uncertainly apart. So I hope you enjoyed that little twist at the end . . . ;) I guess I can pretty much guarantee you that this story wasn't meant to have a happy ending . . .but what can I say? I'm such a sucker for them! And of course, a sucker for Harry and Ginny! Read and Review, because karma's a good thing!  Until next time, Kitotterkat

PS- If you want to see the real way the story was going to go, just cut up to Harry's point of view- line "She told me she loved me" And the last line is . . . "Saying goodbye was never so hard. But walking away was never so real." That's the real ending . . .but I figured you might like this one a little more . . . . ;)

-The next story will actually honest to god be a real angst story (I'm practically crying as I write it)

-The sequel to Crash and Burn is still coming, I promise!

-And stay further tuned for the holiday humor story (And probably my longest one- shot yet)

-And I have two multi- chapter fics in the work, just in case you wanted to know . . . :D


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